Production and Operations Management Consulting.

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Buffer optimization

In many systems, the factory space available for buffers is costly and limited. The total number of buffers and their distribution among the stations have a significant impact on the performance of a flow production systems. Usually, in industrial situations it is not optimal to use simple buffer allocation rules.

Mathematical Model

The determination of the optimum buffer sizes is a combinatorial optimization problem, which cannot be solved optimally even by an experienced practitioner. It must be kept in mind that not only the total number of buffers has an influence on the throughput of a system, but also their distribution among the stations. In a given planning situation, it is by no means obvious how to set the buffer sizes. For a given total number of buffers there may be many different buffer allocations with different throughput. POM Flowline Optimizer has the ability to find the minimum total number of buffers as well as the associated optimum buffer allocation among the stations which are required to achieve a given target throughput. Read more ...

Practical Examples

For more than 20 years we support industrial companies in the task of performance evaluation and optimisation of stochastic flow production systems. Our experience with cases from industry shows that there is a big potential for improvement. Read more ...